1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to rotary compressors and, more particularly, to a rotary compressor which is capable of varying a compression capacity of the compressor as desired.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known to those skilled in the art, a rotary compressor is a machine which compresses refrigerant in a variety of refrigeration systems, such as air conditioners and refrigerators. The rotary compressor includes a housing which is provided with a cylindrical compression chamber, and a ring piston which is arranged in the housing and is eccentrically rotated. The rotary compressor further includes a vane. The vane is installed in the housing so as to be in contact with an outer surface of the ring piston, reciprocates in a radial direction of the compression chamber, and partitions the housing into an intake part communicating with an inlet port thereof and a discharging part communicating with an outlet port thereof. In the rotary compressor, when the ring piston installed in the compression chamber is eccentrically rotated by a drive motor, refrigerant is sucked into the compression chamber from the inlet port and is highly pressurized prior to being discharged from the compression chamber through the outlet port. The refrigerant is thus compressed.
The conventional rotary compressor has an advantage that a compressing efficiency thereof is high. However, the conventional rotary compressor has a problem that a compression capacity of the compressor is difficult to control as desired, so to use the rotary compressor is difficult in refrigeration systems, such as refrigerators and air conditioners, which need to vary the cooling capacities thereof.